Tanya Thorson
StrategiX · B2A
About
The Eye Behind the Strategy.
I built this practice on a simple conviction: the best commercial outcomes happen when merchandising intelligence, marketing instinct, and strategic clarity operate as one.
The Origin
Built from the floor up. Refined at the boardroom table.
My career spans some of the most demanding retail and consumer goods environments in the industry — including Lands' End, Jockey, and Fair Indigo, where I created the 97 Hands campaign, putting the real names and faces of the people who made the product on the product itself, before supply chain transparency was a trend.
That experience — the P&L ownership, the category leadership, the brand decisions made under pressure — is what separates this practice from a traditional consultancy. I have sat in the chair you are sitting in. I know what the pressure feels like. And I know what actually moves the needle.
I am the co-author of Get Off Your (M)ass! — Introducing B2A: Business to Anyone™, and the publisher of The B2A Edit, a weekly newsletter on merchandising, marketing, and strategy.
The machine can learn your purchase history. It cannot learn your hesitation. That gap — between what the data says and what the customer actually needs — is where I work.
Background
30+ Years
Retail & consumer goods industry experience
Operator First
P&L ownership, category leadership, brand management — not just advisory
Cross-Sector
Specialty retail, mass market, DTC, multi-brand portfolios
Full Funnel
From shelf strategy to brand positioning to growth roadmaps
The Work Behind the Frameworks
The Work Behind the Frameworks.
Fair Indigo
The Curiosity Creed
The Curiosity Creed isn't theoretical. At Fair Indigo, genuine curiosity about who made our garments — not how they were made, but whose hands touched them — became the 97 Hands campaign: 16 months, 97 pairs of hands, one t-shirt. People wrote back to say they'd never look at a t-shirt the same way again.
Lands' End
The Human Smudge
At Lands' End, listening to breast cancer survivors describe what they actually needed from swimwear led to a mastectomy collection built around their real lives — and to the Pink Thread Project, a partnership with Breastcancer.org.
Chico's
Mise en Marketing
At Chico's, reframing Women's Jackets not by product type but by emotional posture — the confidence jacket, the belonging jacket — reduced return rates and increased loyalty. Not because the product changed. Because the story did.
New Balance
The Resonance Mix
At New Balance, asking women why they bought athleisure — not what features they liked, but how it made them feel — shifted the entire marketing strategy from performance claims to emotional truth.
These aren't case studies. They're the origin of the frameworks.
Recognition & Credentials
Contributing Writer — MarTech
Selected as one of a small group of marketing minds using technology to build standout brands and real revenue.
American Marketing Association
Member.
Private Directors Association
Member.
Co-Author — Get Off Your (M)ass!
Introducing B2A: Business to Anyone™ — introducing the POISE framework and the B2A methodology for building businesses that reach anyone through genuine personalization, omnichannel strategy, and the human element.
Publisher — The B2A Edit
A weekly newsletter on merchandising, marketing, and strategy at the intersection of commerce, culture, and technology.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Graduate.
“If you are genuinely interested, you become genuinely interesting. That conviction is behind everything — the consulting practice, the book, the newsletter, and every brand I have ever helped build.”
— Tanya Thorson
Beyond the Consulting Practice
Get Off Your (M)ass!
I am the co-author of Get Off Your (M)ass! — Introducing B2A: Business to Anyone™ — a framework for building businesses that reach anyone, through genuine personalization, omnichannel strategy, and the human element that no algorithm replaces.
The B2A Edit
I also publish The B2A Edit — a weekly newsletter on merchandising, marketing, and strategy read by brand builders, retail leaders, and executives navigating the intersection of commerce and culture.
"I am not in the business of producing reports. I am in the business of changing outcomes."
Tanya Thorson
Philosophy
Operator, Not Observer
I have run the categories, managed the P&Ls, and made the calls under pressure. That operational experience is the foundation of every recommendation I make. I don't theorize — I prescribe, because I have been there.
Integration Over Isolation
Merchandising, marketing, and strategy are not separate disciplines — they are one system. The best outcomes happen when all three are aligned. I refuse to optimize one at the expense of the others.
Precision Over Volume
I take a small number of engagements at any given time. Not because I lack capacity — because depth of focus is how I deliver results that actually move the business. Every client gets my full attention.
Candor as a Service
The most valuable thing I can offer is an honest assessment. I tell clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. That directness is what makes the work useful.
How I Engage
Selective by design. Committed by nature.
I work with a small number of clients at any given time. This is not a constraint — it is a choice. The quality of my work depends on the depth of my focus, and depth requires limits.
Every engagement begins with a diagnostic conversation. I need to understand your business, your market, and the specific challenge before I can tell you whether and how I can help. If I am not the right fit, I will tell you that too.
Project Engagements
Defined scope, clear deliverables, fixed timeline. Ideal for specific strategic questions or one-time initiatives.
Retained Advisory
Ongoing strategic partnership. I become an extension of your leadership team — available, informed, and invested.
Executive Workshops
Facilitated sessions to align leadership teams on strategy, priorities, or market positioning.
Work Together
If the fit is right, the results follow.
I am selective about the engagements I take on — not out of exclusivity, but because the right fit is what makes the work exceptional. Start with a conversation and I will know quickly whether this is one of them.